


Crossing the Ningyo Sea

by Lunarium



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Japanese Mythology & Folklore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 23:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6447091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A foolhardy shieldmaiden accompanies a beautiful apprentice sorceress down the sea to retrieve a lost scepter, but her vow of protecting her lady comes with a price.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crossing the Ningyo Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sath/gifts).



> Many thanks to my beta AmyFortuna for all of your help!

The women with long hair in iridescent tones of the sea, with opalescent and golden colors glittering at their necks, circled around Tamara Rusthelm, freezing her in place for a moment. All thought of swimming back to the boat left her. They needed just that moment to reach her, the mermaids who made themselves known with their enchanting songs and well-shaped bodies, the upper half as maidens unclothed. 

Tamara tried to look away, her face instantly going red and feeling hot. But then one of the mermaids took her arm and forced her to face them. The fair sea maidens with songs of promise groped for any skin they could find not sheathed by armor. Up close, she could see every nuance of each scale on their long glimmering tails. Tamara tried to recall a name, but their song was quickly filling her, overshadowing anything else, and with mounting alarm she realized she could not move. 

The surface of the water was drawing closer as deeper into the sea the mermaids tugged at her, binding her with fair song. Tamara thought to pray and ask for forgiveness, to whoever it was she was sent to protect, when suddenly the sun itself felt too warm on her back and exposed neck. 

In that instant the mermaid song ceased as they hissed and recoiled, giving a wide berth around their victim. 

“Lieutenant Tamara?” 

Cringing as her wits seized up again, Tamara splashed about until she reached the boat, coughing out water and shaking out fish stuck in her armor. The young sorceress regarded her coolly, though her lips held the slightest hint of amusement. 

“I was waiting to see what you would do.” 

Tamara blanched, pausing midway in pushing back red fringes away from her face. “I assure you, Lady Shinju, that I am among the finest of the shieldmaidens of Daho! What you have just witnessed was a rare slip of my capabilities, as I am not one to be easily overcome by any enchantments!” 

“Well, I do hope not,” Lady Shinju said. “There are many more of these creatures, and I need someone who can help me get to the cave where they’ve taken my scepter.” 

“I _am_ the one for the job, my lady!” 

Tamara bowed low and graciously, trying not to show her unease and embarrassment. In truth she had answered the ad in the paper because she was frantically trying to prove herself. Helping a young apprentice sorceress cross a sea didn’t seem like hard work. The Ningyo Sea was relatively small, and the cave which Lady Shinju needed to go to was nearby. It would be easy money, but more importantly, an easy rise in status. 

It would not do to doze off on the job and find herself falling overboard, all in plain sight of the Lady Shinju. It wouldn’t have been so bad had it not been the charm of the mermaids ensnaring her so easily. 

Tamara glanced to her side, silently chastising herself. Perhaps one reason for her accursed family name, Rusthelm, was that she was so easily distracted by women, and Lady Shinju was the fairest of all. She was tall, and her face soft and pure like ivory, her long hair the color of the night. Her right eye was a darker brown than Tamara’s own which also held specks of green; the left a large pearl honed from this very sea, used in replacement of the eye she had lost many moons ago on the same night when she had lost her scepter. The legend was whoever took her scepter had also taken her eye in payback for whatever wrong Lady Shinju had committed; she was nearly drowned in this sea. Before they departed for the journey, Lady Shinju had said her longtime enemy had passed away, but it was still no wonder she feared going on the journey alone. 

Tamara stood up, determined. 

“Fear not, my lady,” Tamara said as she made for the edge of the boat, taking a tentative glance over at the water. “You will not worry for anything with me around.” 

Lady Shinju sighed. “I do hope not.”

The sea was full of the mermaids, whose rueful pouts and large, glimmering hopeful eyes turned, all aimed at Tamara, morphed into pure abhorrence when they beheld Lady Shinju. Even their appearances shifted all as Tamara watched, their fair faces twisting into hideous creatures of the sea, pearly skin wrinkling into grey scales and shiny hair turning into the same color and texture as seaweed. 

The sorceress recoiled from their ugly leers. Though magic ran in her veins, it was declining without the presence of her scepter. The sight made Tamara’s heart ache, strengthening her resolve to not mess up again. When one of the mermaids jumped out of the water, Tamara gave one swing of her sword, and the creature splashed back into the water, staining the sea red with her blood. The other mermaids around her hissed and swam away. 

Unable to help herself, Tamara glanced back and offered Lady Shinju a proud grin, to which Lady Shinju nodded once, but said nothing. 

There were other attempts at attacking Lady Shinju throughout the journey, but each time Tamara came out the victor. After the first kill, she tried not to be as conspicuous in her gleeful victories, thinking her fondness for the lady perhaps improper or unwelcome. After all, she had not known Lady Shinju for long. 

And she should know better than to let her imagination wander. A tendency to daydream ran through all her family line, and that had given them the name Rusthelm of Daho, and so became their infamous reputation of being as helpful and dependable as a sack of rotten potatoes. 

A glance to her right sent a flutter of butterflies through Tamara’s stomach, but she kept her true feelings in abeyance for the time being, instead using the knowledge that the mermaids scared Lady Shinju to motivate her in protecting her lady as they crossed the sea. She tried not to dwell on after the journey, of the sorceress rewarding her with a kiss as deep as the sea and as warm as the sun’s rays on their backs. 

A smudge of grey broke the line dividing the expanse of sky and sea, and soon the singular grey mountain was joined by luscious green of tropical trees and tall grass. The mouth of the cave loomed overhead right in their line of sight. When their boat docked, Lady Shinju jumped to her feet just as Tamara’s heart leapt with fear and anticipation. 

“We’re here, my lady!” she announced happily. 

“I fear the monsters of the sea were only the beginning,” Lady Shinju said calmly as she joined Tamara at her side. 

Another look towards the cave confirmed the lady’s words. Beyond the vines which ran diagonally across the mouth of the cave, lights flickered as if suddenly lit, alerted by their arrival. Through the space in the vines, Tamara could see swords, shields, feet marching towards them. 

“Who guards this cave?” she asked in a low voice to her lady. 

“The one who took my sword,” Lady Shinju replied simply. 

_Of course_ , Tamara though, chastising herself for asking such an obvious question. “What sort of man _was_ he? I mean…what sort of guards _are_ they?” 

Lady Shinju glanced down, even her pearl eye gleaming with her rare smile. “So you sensed their strangeness too? But, alas! Without my scepter I am nothing against them…”

“You have nothing to fear, my lady!” Tamara promised. Realizing belatedly what she had just resigned herself to, she unsheathed her sword, took a deep breath and another glance at Lady Shinju, letting her beauty recharge her resolve. Then jumping over the boat and landing right before the cave, she slashed at the vines, and in that exact moment, the first wave of skeletal warriors charged towards her.

Lady Shinju’s beautiful face flickered through her mind, propelling her forward. Her sword swung in every direction, decapitating skulls and shoving aside skeletons until the bones scattered into pieces. She glanced back once to see Lady Shinju leave the boat, making her way slowly down the path Tamara had cleared for her. 

There was a small river in the cave that fed into the sea, just wide enough for Tamara to hop over, but crossing it, a hand shot out and grabbed for her leg. Shimmering hair reached the surface, and Tamara thought she heard the mermaid gasp, “No!” Without thinking, Tamara brought her sword down through her heart. 

Checking about herself, her heart hammering, she glimpsed their prize not too far from there. Tamara called out for Lady Shinju. “The path is clear, my lady.” 

Lady Shinju bowed low and thanked her politely, her words filling Tamara with pride. She reached Tamara and bowed, her lips close to Tamara’s brow, but Tamara’s heart leapt excitedly, thinking of their kiss and future after this moment, and got on her toes, capturing Lady Shinju’s mouth with her own. 

Lady Shinju’s lips were sweet and soft, the taste of early spring and the golden rays of the sun. When Tamara finally stepped back, she couldn’t hold back a dreamy sigh, so certain the look on her face was utterly foolish but not caring. 

Lady Shinju’s face, however, was almost akin to a look of silent horror, though it was quickly masked by the time Tamara came back to her senses. 

Something was not right, Tamara realized moments later though she couldn’t place a name to it. Lady Shinju passed her by as though no kiss had happened and led the way to the raised dais where an ancient-looking scepter rested, sheathed by some magical dome. She dissolved the curse instantly and picked up the scepter, her right eye gleaming brighter as though the magic running through her charged with the object she now held. 

“Thank you indeed, Lieutenant Tamara,” she said, “though it pains me to have had to bring another into my troubles.” 

“It was no trouble, my lady,” Tamara said. “It was an honor to serve you, and I will not hesitate to do so again if you wish for my services in the future.” 

Lady Shinju’s smile was sad. “You needlessly became an enemy of the Ningyo,” she said, “because of my own selfishness many years ago.” 

Tamara’s eyebrows knitted in confusion, but slowly, her mind unfurled and began to understand. She took in the great and unnatural beauty of the sorceress, the pearl of her left eye—the finest pearl to be found in the sea—and the scepter in her hand, so ancient and weathered held by hands so young and smooth. 

The legend,burned in Tamara’s mind from her childhood, was the stuff of nightmares: of the Ningyo, the mermaids who would grant eternal life and youthfulness to whoever ate their flesh. It was no wonder why they regarded the sorceress with such contempt. It was no wonder, Tamara realized with a sudden lump in her throat, why they had tried to stop her. 

“My lady…if you do not mind…how old are you?” 

Right after the words left her lips, Tamara cringed, fearing a reprimand, but a gentle yet sorrowful laugh made her look up. 

“I have lost count. I have lived so long that I have come to regret lengthening my life for the sake of a love which did not last,” she said. “I did things I was not proud of, and paid a heavy price for it. 

“It was easy enough for me, enchanting the Ningyo so they would not escape while I...did what I had to do. But how foolish I was. I chose the wrong one, the one whose lover was the sorcerer who once lived on this island. I paid the price for slaying his lover and taking her power. 

“Was it worth it in the end, losing an eye and living forever for one who would not do the same for me? I should have thought more carefully. Remember that, Lieutenant.” 

Tamara swallowed thickly. “I will, my lady.” 

Lady Shinju passed her by, her eye regarding her with sympathy, pity, and affection. Tamara fought back the urge to throw up. Her hand found the hilt of her sword, remembering all those she had killed at sea in the name of love, in the name of one her heart _still_ ached for. 

“Will you be joining me on the journey back to the mainland?” Lady Shinju called out from somewhere near the cave’s mouth. 

_I took a vow_ , Tamara reminded herself. _But what have I done?_

She looked up to see Lady Shinju watching her with a small smile. One hand was reaching out in invitation, the apprentice sorceress still in need of her company. And after that kiss, to still welcome Tamara back. 

_But I've made so many enemies._

The Rusthelm she was known as, a family of fools governed by flights of fancy. She chose this job, chose to kill for a lady to protect without knowing who she was. 

But before having met Lady Shinju, Tamara had never known what she was capable of. 

Racing back to Lady Shinju's side with a smile carrying a slight dark tone as the sorceress, Tamara bowed and took her hand. "I am here, my lady."


End file.
